Timeline: How The 2020 Census Citizenship Question Ended Up In CourtThe Trump administration added a question about U.S. citizenship status that could undermine the quality of 2020 census information. Dozens of states and cities are suing to get the question removed.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross listens to President Trump at the White House in March. Ross' decision to add a question about U.S. citizenship status to the 2020 census sparked six lawsuits from dozens of states, cities and other groups that want the question removed.
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross listens to President Trump at the White House in March. Ross' decision to add a question about U.S. citizenship status to the 2020 census sparked six lawsuits from dozens of states, cities and other groups that want the question removed.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Early in the Trump administration, senior officials discussed bringing back a controversial question topic to the census that the federal government has not asked all households about since 1950 — U.S. citizenship status.

The policy idea became reality this March, when — against the recommendations of the Census Bureau — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross used his authority over the census and approved plans to add the question, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?"

That decision triggered what could become one of the most influential legal battles over the next decade. More than two dozen states and cities, along with other groups, have filed six lawsuits around the country against the Trump administration to get the question removed.

The first trial of the citizenship question lawsuits is expected to start Monday in New York City. It's expected to last two weeks. No matter which side wins, the district court decisions in all of these cases are likely to be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Ross argues that the Justice Department needs responses to the citizenship question to better enforce part of the Voting Rights Act. But the plaintiffs cite Census Bureau research showing that in the current climate of stepped-up immigration enforcement and growing anti-immigrant sentiments, asking about citizenship could scare households with noncitizens from participating and undermine the accuracy of the information the census collects.

That, in turn, could taint the critical data that will be used to form the country's underlying power structures through 2030. How many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets after the 2020 head count is determined by that tally. Data from the census are used to redraw political districts at the state and local levels. They are also a guide for distributing an estimated $800 billion a year in federal tax dollars to fund schools, roads and other public institutions and services across the U.S.

How the citizenship question ended up on the census and then in court is documentedin a trail of internal emails and memos released as part of the lawsuits. Since their first release in June, the Commerce Department's office of public affairs has generally declined to comment to NPR on the information contained in the documents, citing pending litigation.

"The administrative record shows that the Department of Commerce took a deep dive into the surrounding legal, policy, and program considerations prior to reinstating the citizenship question on the decennial census," Ross said in a written statement in June. "I am confident that after months of review and consideration, this administrative record proves that the return of the citizenship question to the Decennial Census is the right move that will allow our country to have the most complete and accurate census information available."

Contradictions in Ross' congressional testimony about the question, however, have led some Democratic lawmakers to call for investigations into Ross and his decision. It all comes down towhy exactly the Trump administration decided to use the 2020 census to find out who living in the country is and isn't a U.S. citizen.

Here's a look back at what we know about the addition of the question to the census and the ensuing lawsuits:

January 2017:The Washington Post and Vox publish what was reported to be a draft executive order that directed the Census Bureau director to "include questions to determine U.S. citizenship and immigration status on the long-form questionnaire in the decennial census." So far, the White House has not issued such an order. The American Community Survey, a Census Bureau survey that replaced the long-form census questionnaire, already includes a citizenship question. The Justice Department has relied on citizenship data from it to enforce the Voting Rights Act.

May 24, 2017: "The Secretary seemed ... puzzled why citizenship is not included in 2020," Commerce Department official David Langdon writes in an email to Census Bureau officials. He asks "what criteria drives us to put" a citizenship question on the American Community Survey — an annual survey that about one in 38 households in the U.S. are legally required to answer — and not the 2020 census, which includes every household.

July 14, 2017: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach emails Ross to "follow up on our telephone discussion from a few months ago." Kobach suggests wording for a citizenship question on the 2020 census that includes response options about immigration status, after noting "the problem that aliens who do not actually 'reside' in the United States are still counted for congressional apportionment purposes."

Sept. 8, 2017:In an internal memo to Ross, Comstock details how he asked multiple federal agencies if they would request for a citizenship question to be added to the 2020 census. "Justice staff did not want to raise the question given the difficulties Justice was encountering in the press at the time (the whole Comey matter)," he wrote. After reaching out to the Department of Homeland Security, Comstock was referred back to the Justice Department.

Sept. 13, 2017:In an email, Gore asks to speak about "a DOJ-DOC issue" with Teramoto. He later connects her with Justice Department official Danielle Cutrona, who writes in an email: "From what John told me, it sounds like we can do whatever you all need us to do and the delay was due to a miscommunication. The AG is eager to assist."

Nov. 27, 2017: "Census is about to begin translating the questions into multiple languages," Ross writes in a follow-up email to Davidson. "We are out of time. Please set up a call for me tomorrow with whoever is the responsible person at Justice. We must have this resolved."

Dec. 15, 2017: Commerce Department attorney James Uthmeier emails a copy of a Justice Department letter dated Dec. 12, 2017, to the Census Bureau's Acting Director Ron Jarmin. The letter formally requests the bureau to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census to help the department better enforce Voting Rights Act protections against discrimination of racial and language minorities.

Dec. 22, 2017: In response to the Justice Department request, Jarmin tries to set up a meeting between the department and the Census Bureau to discuss an alternative to adding a citizenship question. Compiling existing government records about citizenship, Jarmin writes in an email, "would result in higher quality data produced at lower cost."

Jan. 19, 2018: The Census Bureau's chief scientist, John Abowd, warns in a memo to Ross that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census "is very costly, harms the quality of the census count, and would use substantially less accurate citizenship status data than are available" from existing government records.

Feb. 13, 2018: "None of my colleagues at AEI would speak favorably about the proposal. Is it important that the person actually be in favor of the proposal?" the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Strain writes in an email to Jarmin, who's trying to set up calls with groups who may be supportive of the question as part of Ross' formal review of the Justice Department's request. A group of former Census Bureau directors has already spoken out against adding the citizenship question.

March 1, 2018:In another memo for Ross, Abowd recommends against combining responses to a 2020 census citizenship question with existing government records "to create a comprehensive statistical reference list of current U.S. citizens" — an option that Ross requested after reviewing the earlier memo by the Census Bureau's chief scientist.

The Trump campaign sent this email to its supporters a week before Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Trump Make America Great Again Committee/Screenshot by NPR
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The Trump campaign sent this email to its supporters a week before Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Part of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' testimony about the citizenship question is later contradicted by internal emails, memos and other court filings released as part of the lawsuits.

U.S. House Committee on AppropriationsYouTube

March 22, 2018: During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Ross testifies to Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., that the Justice Department "initiated the request" for a citizenship question.

March 26, 2018:Ross announces his decision to add a new question to the 2020 census that asks, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" He also directs the Census Bureau to match responses to the question with existing government records on citizenship. Hours later, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra files the first lawsuit against the Trump administration to get the question removed.

March 28, 2018: In another email about a citizenship question, the Trump campaign tells its supporters, "President Trump has officially mandated that the 2020 United States Census ask people living in America whether or not they are citizens."

April 11, 2018:A group of Maryland and Arizona residents file a lawsuit in Maryland. A group affiliated with former Attorney General Eric Holder's redistricting organization, the National Redistricting Foundation, is coordinating the lawsuit.

April 17, 2018: The city of San Jose, Calif., and Black Alliance for Just Immigration — an immigrant rights group led by Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi — file a lawsuit in California.

April 25, 2018: "It shouldn't scare people. They don't have to answer it, really," Sessions says during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. That was in response to a question from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, about worries among communities of color that the citizenship question will scare people from responding to the census. Sessions calls those concerns "overblown," noting the question is placed as the last one to be asked about each household member. According to federal law, refusing to answer a census question can result in a fine. Returning an incomplete form may lead to a phone call or an in-person visit from a census worker.

May 18, 2018:Gore dodges questions from lawmakers during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about why the Justice Department requested a citizenship question. "You can't answer a question as to whether you talked to your boss, who we pay?" Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., asks after Gore avoids directly answering if he discussed the request with Sessions. Gore says he can't comment because the Justice Department is representing the Trump administration in the lawsuits over the question. He was a no-show at an earlier hearing he was expected to attend.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore refuses to answer many inquiries from lawmakers about the citizenship question.

U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform CommitteeYouTube

May 23, 2018:The state of Alabama sues the Trump administration to challenge the Census Bureau's longstanding policy of including unauthorized immigrants in census numbers used to distribute congressional seats and Electoral College votes among the states.

May 31, 2018: La Unión del Pueblo Entero, a Texas-based community group founded by labor activists César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, leads another lawsuit filed in Maryland over the citizenship question.

June 6, 2018: The New York Immigration Coalition leads another lawsuit filed in New York over the citizenship question.

June 21, 2018:In a memo filed as part of the lawsuits, Ross discloses that he and his staff seeded the Justice Department's request for a citizenship question. Ross reveals publicly that "soon" after he was appointed as commerce secretary, he thought adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census "could be warranted." The issue was raised by other "senior" Trump administration officials, he adds.

Aug. 17, 2018:The two California-based lawsuits can continue,U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg rules, on the plaintiffs' claims that Ross' decision to add the citizenship question was unconstitutional and a misuse of his authority. In New York, Furman orders the Trump administration to make Gore available for questioning under oath in part because he appears to have had a role in drafting the Justice Department's request for a citizenship question.

Oct. 11, 2018: A court filing reveals that Ross discussed adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census with Bannon in the spring of 2017, when he also spoke with Sessions about the topic. The disclosure about Bannon — made "for the sake of completeness," according to the Trump administration's attorneys — contradicts Ross' testimony in Congress back in March, when he said he was not aware of any discussion about the issue between him or his staff and the White House.